Circuit-controller.



W. C. REED.

CIRCUIT CONTROLLER. APPLICATION FILE-D 001.25. 1916.

Patented Oct. 16, 1917.

[Aim 6%, 1 2 2 W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER C. REED, OF DALTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE TELELECTBIC COMPANY, OF IPITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHU- SETTS.

CIRCUIT-CONTROLLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 16, 1917.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, WALTER C. REED, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dalton, in the county of Berkshire and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Circuit-Controllers, of which the following is a speclfication.-

In constructing electrically operated piano players and pipe organs intended to be controlled through the agency of a perforated music sheet it is frequently desirable, in order to avoid weakening the music sheet by the employment of excessively long slots therein, to include in the apparatus one or more electro-magnetic circuit controllers of such construction that if the circuit which operates the controller is momentarily closed the controller will instantly close another normally-open circuit and will keep the latter circuit closed after its own operating circuit has been opened. The present invention provides a simple form of circuit controller which is adapted to serve the purpose above referred to, is capable of operat ing with great rapidity, is not likely to get out of order, and is so constructed that by a slight modification it may be readily adapted to open a normally-closed circuit and maintain it in open condition.

While my device may be constructed to control any desired number of circuits simultaneously, Ihave illustrated in the accompanying drawing a simple form of the device which is adapted to control a single circuit only, since its construction and mode of operation will be the same in principle whether it is used to control one circuit or more than one, and the modifications necessary to adapt the device to control more than one circuit will be readily understood from the ensuing description.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the device as preferably constructed for controlling a circuit which is normally open;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same device as viewed from the left in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device shown in Figs.- 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is an elevation similar to the upper portion of Fig. 1, illustrating the arrangement employed for controlling a circuit which is normally closed;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the modification shown in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the wiring of the device.

The device illustrated in Figs. 1, '2 and 3 comprises a cylindrical electro-magnet 2 supported in upright position on a base 2 and having at its upper end a soft-iron cap a constituting a pole of the magnet. The winding of the magnet consists of two independent coils 5 and 6, of which the coil 5 is connected at its ends to terminals 7 and 8 on the base 3 and constitutes the exciting coil'of the magnet, through which a current is sent by the closing of the operating circuit represented in part by the wires 9 and 10 connected to the terminals 7 and 8. The magnet has two armatures, shown as consisting of small softiron tubes 11 and 12 mounted respectively on spring wires 13 and 14 which are secured at their lower ends to the base 3 and extend upward therefrom at one side of the magnet. These wires 13 and 14 and the tubes which they carry serve also as conductors, the tubes 11 and 12 being preferably provided with small silver contact pieces 15 and 16 located in position to make contact with a metallic contact bar 17 secured to and insulated fronr a wooden strip 18 which overlies the pole 4 of the magnet and constitutes a portion of a frame in which the device is held. The spring wire 13 is included in and forms a part of the circuit to be controlled, which is represented in part by the wires 19 and 20 connected to the contact bar 17 and to the lower end of said wire 13 respectively. The other spring wire, 14, is connected at its lower end to one end of the coil 6 of the magnet, which may be termed the retaining coil and has its other end connected by a wire 21 to the wire 10, which serves as a common return wire for both coils of the magnet.

As thus constructed the operation is as follows :Fnder normal conditions, with no current passing through either of the. coils 5 and G, the spring action of the wires 13 and 11 holds the upper ends of the corresponding armatures at a slight distance from the contact bar 17 so that the circuit represented by the wires 19 and 20 is open. If new the circuit through the wires 9 and 10 is momentarily closed the exciting coil 5 energizes the magnet and causes both of the armatures 11 and 12 to be attracted, with the result that not only the circuit to be controlled is closed at the contact bar 17 but also the circuit through the retaining coil 6 is closed at the same time, the latter coil being so wound that its magnetizing action supplements that of the coil 5. Consequently the magnet is kept energized by means of the retaining coil after the circuit through the exciting coil 5 has been opened, so that both armatures continue to be. held in heir circuit-closing positions. \Vhen it is desired to open the circuit through the wires 19 and 20 the circuit which includes the retaining coil. 6 is opened at any convenient point, whereupon, assuming that the circuit through the exciting coil is open, both of the armatures 11 and 12 spring away from the contact bar 17 and all the circuits remain open until the operating circuit is again closed. For opening the circuit through the retaining coil, I have shown in Fig. 6 a switch 22 included in the circuit wires 21 and adapted to be operated manually, but ordinarily this circuit will be opened automatically by suitable means not necessary to be described.

In Figs. 4 and 5, which show the arrangement preferably employed when the circuit to be controlled is normally closed, the magnet 2 and its retaining armature 12 are arranged as already described, but the armature 11 is located on the opposite side of the magnet from the armature 12 and the contact bar 17 is located on the outer side of the armature 11, with the contact piece 15 normally held against the bar 17 by the spring action of the wire which carries the armature. In this case, when the magnet 2 is energized by means of the exciting coil the attraction of thearmature 11 results in opening the circuit to be controlled and this open condition is maintained by the operation of the retaining armature as above described, the circuit which includes the latter armature being closed through a supplementary contact bar 17 connected tothe bar 17 by a wire 23.

It will be evident that the two armatures shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 may be located on opposite sides of the magnet and provided with separate contact bars 17 and 17' as shown in Fig. .6, if desired, and that both of said contact bars need not necessarily be connected to the same circuit. It will be also evident that any desired number of circuit-controlling arinatures may be employcdin connection with a single magnet and retaining armature, and that said armatures may be of any suitable construction. I prefer to employ arinatures of the specific type illustrated on account of their siniplicity and capacity for very rapid action,bnt no claim is made herein, broadly, to a circuit controller having 'an armature of this type, as the same constitutes in part the subject matter of a co-pending application filed herewith I claim:

1. A circuit controller comprising an electro-niagnet having an exciting coil and a retaining coil, an armature arrangedto open and close a circuit to be controlled, and another armature arranged to close the circuit through the retaining coil when the magnet is energized by the exciting coil.

2. A circuit controller comprising an electro-magnet having an exciting coil and a retaining coil, an armature arranged to open and close a circuit to be controlled, another armature arranged to close the circuit through the retaining coil when the magnet is energized by the exciting coil, and means for opening the circuit through the retaining coil.

Signed by me at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, this 19th day of October, 1916.

WALTER O. REED. 

